Sienna Gestion Invests $9.41 Million in Western Digital Corporation $WDC

Sienna Gestion bought a new stake in Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 85,981 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $9,412,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Pinpoint Asset Management Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,814,000. LGT Group Foundation raised its stake in shares of Western Digital by 330.6% during the 3rd quarter. LGT Group Foundation now owns 175,517 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $22,921,000 after buying an additional 134,760 shares in the last quarter. Aull & Monroe Investment Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $240,000. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its holdings in shares of Western Digital by 74.1% in the 3rd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 121,000 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $14,527,000 after buying an additional 51,504 shares during the period. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the third quarter valued at approximately $5,391,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Western Digital Price Performance

Western Digital stock opened at $245.25 on Monday. Western Digital Corporation has a 52 week low of $28.83 and a 52 week high of $309.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $246.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $173.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $83.15 billion, a PE ratio of 24.60, a P/E/G ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.76.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 35.52% and a return on equity of 41.53%. The firm’s revenue was up 25.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.77 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 5th will be given a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is currently 5.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Western Digital

In other Western Digital news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 10,148 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.31, for a total transaction of $2,743,105.88. Following the sale, the insider owned 107,794 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,137,796.14. This represents a 8.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.44, for a total value of $5,108,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 623,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $159,288,807.84. The trade was a 3.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 84,277 shares of company stock valued at $22,091,068. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WDC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $340.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Western Digital from $240.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Loop Capital increased their price target on shares of Western Digital to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. New Street Research set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Western Digital in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $250.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Western Digital currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $265.58.

Western Digital Company Profile

Western Digital Corporation is a global data storage company that designs, manufactures and sells a broad range of storage devices and systems for personal, enterprise and cloud applications. Headquartered in San Jose, California, the company develops hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-state drives (SSDs), NAND flash components and finished storage products used in PCs, external storage, servers, network-attached storage (NAS) and embedded systems.

Its product portfolio spans consumer and commercial markets, including internal and external HDDs and SSDs, removable flash memory products and storage platforms for data center and enterprise environments.